Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/245

 9< s. x. SEPT. 20, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

237

also to be incorrect. It has been brought t my notice that in the series of family por traits at Badminton, dating back to a perioc long anterior to the Boscawen marriage, the peculiarly prominent nose is most marked in almost all the personages depicted. Whether these portraits are really more faithful like nesses than those of the early Scottish kings in the Long Gallery at Holyrood (said to have been all the handiwork of a single Dutch artist) I have no means of knowing. I under stand, however, that the constant tradition in the Somerset family is that their nose has been transmitted, through more than four centuries, straight from their royal ancestor John of Gaunt. This would, of course, dis- pose of my theory as well as of INVESTIGA- TOR'S, who, by the way, were he to pursue his investigations a little further, might find (as I have done) something a good deal ad rem in the invaluable back numbers of 'N. & Q.' D. OSWALD HUNTER-BLAIR, O.S.B.

Fort Augustus.

FIRST CHRISTMAS CARD (9 th S. viii. 504: ix. 56). Under the heading of 'Cards of Good Wishes ' I gave (8 th S. xii. 447) " Souhaits de bonne annee, par M. Desclos," and the note which says that M. Desclos, to save him- self the trouble of writing many letters at the beginning of the year, had adopted the method for many years of having two verses printed on cards, which he sent to all his friends. Usually his verses were playful : the seriousness of the verses given occasioned the answer of Monsieur Se'bire.

I give again the " Souhaits de bonne annee," and I add the reply :

Desclos, pret h, finir sa carriere en ces lieux, Vous souhaite longs jours, et puis vous voir aux Cieux.

REPONSE DE MONSIEUR SEBIRE.

Que de toi vienne vers ou prose,

Soil en francais, soit en latin,

Soit sur carte ou sur papier fin,

Soit ceuyre sous la presse dolose,

Soit ecrit de ta propre main,

C'est toujours precieuse chose.

Car de ton souvenir enfin

C'est toujours un signe certain.

Mais ton dernier distique cause

A tes amis un vrai chagrin ;

Ta muse y parle de ta fin :

Dieu ! quel texte ! Dieu ! quelle glose !

Ayant le corps et 1'esprit sain,

Tu ne doit que dans un lointain

Voir encor ton apoth^ose.

The above are to be found in " CEuvres Di- verses de Monsieur de Gre"court, Nouvelle Edition," Amsterdam, 1765, tome ii.'p. 187.

Presumably the " New Year card " and the reply are by Desclos and Se"bire respectively,

although in the " Instruction preliminaire " a hope is expressed that after all the trouble which has been taken and the researches which have been made nothing will be given in the new edition which is not by De Gre"- court. He was born about 1683 and died 1743. The New Year in France is much the same as Christmas in England as a time for good wishes, complimentary visits, and pre- sents. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

WATSON OF BARRASBRIDGE, NEWCASTLE- ON-TYNE (9 th S. ix. 388- x. 177). Further inquiries have been made by the Times of Ceylon respecting the late Lieut. Mitford Watson, and I annex a cutting from the issue of 30 July giving the result :

" Regarding this officer, who is said to have been on the staff of Col. Greenwell in Ceylon, and to have died in Ceylon on June 17th, 1824, we have made further inquiries in response to a further inquiry from our original correspondent and have ascertained that the Military Registers we last quoted cover all outstations, including Trincomalie. Col. Greenwell (of the 45th Regiment) was about this time (April 4th) 'appointed to the, command of the Kandyan provinces, but. there is no reference of any kind to Lieut. Mitford Watson. An extract, shown us, from the London Gazette of July 17th, 1823, speaks of the appointment of Albert Watson, gentleman, an ensign of the 83rd Regiment not the same Regiment to which, it will be noticed, that Col. Greenwell was at that time attached."

Is it possible that your correspondent can be mistaken in supposing that he died in Ceylon? J. P. L.

Jaffra, Ceylon.

ENGLISH FAMILIES IN KURLAND AND Liv- LAND (9 th S. x. 149). Menar, sometime spelled Maner and Menner, and now Manor,

a parish in Tweeddale adjoining that of Peebles. The. property belonged of old to he Lowis family. John Lowis, of Menner, was served heir of his father, Thomas Lowis, of Menner, in 1622. Sixteen years before he lad been served heir of his great-grandfather, John Lowis, of Maner. The parish stretches well up among the hills until an altitude of 2,000 ft. is reached. This old rime may characterize the district :

There stand three mills on Manor Water,

A fourth at Posso cleugh, If heather-bells were corn and bere

They would get grist enough.

't was in this parish that Sir Walter Scott's Slack Dwarf lived, and here he was buried. J. L. ANDERSON. Edinburgh.

GERMAN LETTERS (9 th S. ix. 509 ; x. 73). may mention as useful for the purpose new book, "Die Meister des deutschen